


No rest for the wicked (until the job is done)

by irisdouglasiana



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: And Now For Something Completely Different, F/M, Modern AU, but bear with me, i'm pretty sure this is not actually how the fbi operates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8805442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisdouglasiana/pseuds/irisdouglasiana
Summary: He was an FBI agent. She was conducting her own investigation into a powerful and corrupt corporation with vast resources and connections at the highest levels of government. (Can I make it any more obvious?)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lillianmmalter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillianmmalter/gifts).



> For lillianmmalter, who wants more AUs. My first attempt!

_And there she was_. Daniel had spent the better part of an hour testing the video camera setup across the street from Roxxon’s Brooklyn office, adjusting the angle and checking the focus, and he was just about done when the woman opened the door to the office he was watching and shut it behind her carefully. Red hair, a little past shoulder length, bangs straight across; smartly dressed (though her blouse was cut a little low); about his age. Hugh Jones had plenty of pretty secretaries running around, but it soon became clear she had no business being there. She walked around the room a few times, pausing by the bookshelf, desk, and chair to plant what appeared to be some sort of bug.

He left the video running and quickly pulled out his phone, zoomed in, and started snapping pictures, though it was difficult to get a good angle of her face. “Come on, turn just a little bit more,” he muttered.

He was still trying to get the right shot when the door opened again and Hugh Jones himself walked in. Even from the across the street, the confusion on his face was obvious as the woman turned to face him. She stepped forward, grabbed Jones by his coat, and gave him a lingering kiss on the lips—and just moments later, Jones sagged unconscious into her arms. Daniel strained his eyes, but he could see no trace of blood on Jones as the woman none too gently lowered him to the floor, brushed off her skirt, and exited the office as though nothing had happened.

"Damn it." Daniel pocketed his phone and hurried out of the empty apartment to the ancient elevator, which shrieked and groaned and came to a sudden halt at the third floor. He kept swearing as he got out and took the last three flights of stairs one step at a time, gripping the railing tightly all the way down. Modern prosthetics were truly amazing, even if one didn’t have a deluxe model, but he’d had a few nasty spills down staircases back when he was still getting used to the leg and it was not an experience he was eager to repeat. At the same time, if he wasted too much time on the stairs he was going to lose her, and he could already picture Dooley huffing about how he should’ve sent Thompson to do this job instead. _No way in hell_.

He was panting by the time he left the building, but he saw the redheaded woman almost immediately. She was well over fifty feet ahead of him and heading west on Willoughby Street. He picked up his pace and walked after her, careful to keep his distance. Part of him knew he should report in and call for backup, but this was the most thrilling thing that had happened to him since he started up again at the FBI a few months ago, and—a little selfishly—he didn’t want to give that up. Besides, he told himself, if he stopped now they might never find her again.   

So Daniel followed her zigzagging path from block to block until he really started to regret not bringing his cane, though he hardly could have anticipated this particular side trip. More often than not, he had tended to push his body a little too far over the past year as he recalibrated his limits. The payback wasn’t pretty. But he also didn’t care for going around the FBI office with a cane, not when Dooley had expressed skepticism from the very beginning about how much he could handle, so pride usually won out.  

At any rate, he was relieved when the woman paused and ducked into a bar. He lingered outside for a moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts before going in. Even though the lighting was dim, he quickly spotted her sitting at the bar by herself. She turned to look at him as he approached. From far away he could tell she was pretty, but up close, she was stunning, almost like a movie star. There was something magnetic about her brown eyes; something about the brightness of her lipstick and the way she arched her eyebrow. The color of her hair was a little too red and he wondered if she dyed it.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Daniel asked as he settled onto the barstool next to her, glad to finally be able to take the weight off his leg.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ve already got one,” she said in a soft British accent as she held up her martini glass.

“Fair enough.” He held out his hand. “I’m Daniel. I work in IT.” That was sort of true.

The firmness of her handshake caught him a little off guard. “Peggy.”

“That’s an old-fashioned name.”

“Some names never go out of style.” She took a sip of her drink and set it down. “So, Daniel-in-IT, I would very much like to know why you’ve been following me for nine blocks. I doubt it was just to ask me to have a drink with you.”

He didn’t blink. “And I’d like to know why you were planting bugs in Hugh Jones’ office, and what you did to make him pass out like that after you kissed him.”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Jones is perfectly fine; he’ll just be dizzy for a little while after waking up. Now, I take it you’re not one of his goons, because if you were, you would be the size of one of your American football players. I should know. Still, I hardly think what I was doing in that office is any of your business.”

“It’s my business if your…activities…impede a federal investigation.” He flashed his badge at her.

Peggy tilted her head. “Is that a threat?”

“Doesn’t have to be, but it’s up to you.”

Her expression turned cold. “Well, Daniel, I’ll have you know that I’m familiar with the workings of your agency, and considering the lofty connections Jones has, I doubt your investigation will last much longer once a few well-placed phone calls go through. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to use the ladies’ room.” She grabbed her purse and marched off to the bathroom.

Daniel ordered a beer and drank it slowly as he waited for Peggy to return, keeping an eye on the bathroom in case she tried to bolt. But after five minutes had passed and there was no sign of her, he started to get a funny feeling that he’d somehow been given the slip. A few more minutes dragged by with no sign of Peggy, so he left his unfinished drink at the bar and walked over to the bathroom, where he flagged down a random woman. “Say, could you tell me if there’s a redheaded woman in there? I can’t find my girlfriend,” he said with a smile. He wasn’t even sure why he felt the need to add the lie.

She gave him a distinctly hostile stare as she opened the bathroom door. “Then text her. Creep.”

From the brief glimpse he got of the inside of the bathroom, he couldn’t see her, but he did see that the frosted glass window towards the back of the room was ajar. And just large enough that maybe…

He made his way back outside and headed around the building to the alley the window faced out onto, but he already knew he was too late. She’d had a nearly ten minute head start on him and there was no telling which direction she had gone. And not only had he lost her, he had also alerted her to the fact the FBI knew of her involvement in the Jones case. _Idiot_.

There was a piece of paper stuck on the window. He limped over to take a closer look. The handwriting was messy but readable: _Daniel—no rest for the wicked until the job is done. How about next time I’ll buy_ you _a drink?_

He pulled the note off the window and shook his head. He had a feeling he hadn’t seen the last of her, and he didn’t mind at all.

* * *

Back at his apartment, Daniel changed out of his suit, took off his leg, and settled in at his desk to type up his report. He swiped again through the photos on his phone—not even one clear shot of her face _._ He uploaded the pictures into the report and he dutifully described what he had observed at the office, but for some reason he didn’t want to write about his encounter with Peggy at the bar and how she had managed to disappear on him. What was it she had said? _I’m familiar with the workings of your agency_ …who was she anyway? What did she know that he didn’t? How could he find her again?

He taped Peggy’s note on the wall behind his computer and leaned back in his seat. One thing was certain: this case had just gotten a hell of a lot more interesting.         

_To be continued…???_


End file.
